BIRN (Balkan Investigative Reporting Network) - A Paper Trail to Better Governance



Contract partner: BIRN - Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Country: Europa, regional/länderübergreifend Funding amount: € 500.000,00 Project start: 01.10.2013 End: 30.06.2016

Short Description:

Overall goal


The promotion of the rule of law, accountability and transparency is key for the countries in South-Eastern Europe and the Danube Region in their ambitions towards EU integration. A professional, free and independent media surely contributes to this aim. Therefore, the renowned Balkan Investigative Reporting Network is being supported in its endeavors to expose wrongdoings of the governments, public and private companies, as well as individuals, thus enabling the public to make informed decisions.

The project will address the level of openness and transparency of public institutions in the target countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Moldova); establish a free, user-friendly, searchable online database of public documents; train and empower journalists in the target countries to effectively use investigative skills, research, and report and further tackle issues of public interest; and implement five investigative regional projects (e.g. biggest environmental polluters, or the manipulation of the electricity market in the Balkans). Television debates and broadcasted reports round up the challenging activities, and investigative capacity development will be deepened in the renowned the Summer School.

Direct beneficiaries include 25 investigative journalists and/or researchers who are trained and participate in the investigative projects, while indirect beneficiaries are the broad public, media, public institutions and authorities, civil society representatives, and private sector operators. As such, democracy and good governance is being strengthened.

project number 8297-00/2013
source of funding OEZA
sector Staatsführung & Zivilgesellschaft, allgemein
tied
modality
marker
  • Policy marker: are used to identify, assess and facilitate the monitoring of activities in support of policy objectives concerning gender equality, aid to environment, participatory development/good governance, trade development and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. Activities targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions include the identification of biodiversity, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and desertification.
    • 1= policy is a significant objective of the activity
    • 2= policy is the principal objective of the activity
  • Donor/ source of funding: The ADA is not only implementing projects and programmes of the Austrian Development Cooperation , but also projects funded from other sources and donors such as
    • AKF - Foreign Disaster Fund of the Austrian federal government
    • BMLFUW - Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water
    • EU - Funds of the European Commission
    • Others - various other donors are listed in ADA’s annual business report.
  • Type of Aid – Aid modalities: classifies transfers from the donor to the first recipient of funds such as budget support, core contributions and pooled programmes and funds to CSOs and multilateral organisations, project-type interventions, experts and other technical assistance, scholarships and student costs in donor countries, debt relief, administrative costs and other in-donor expenditures.
  • Purpose/ sector code: classifies the specific area of the recipient’s economic or social structure, funded by a bilateral contribution.
  • Tied/Untied: Untied aid is defined as loans and grants whose proceeds are fully and freely available to finance procurement from all OECD countries and substantially all developing countries. Transactions are considered tied unless the donor has, at the time of the aid offer, clearly specified a range of countries eligible for procurement which meets the tests for “untied” aid.
Back to list